Bruised, battered Blues succumb to Avalanche, get swept in first-round series

The 5-2 defeat on home ice ends tumultuous season, begs 

more questions as Blues enter off-season with many uncertainties

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The end was much like the start.

Unfortunately for the Blues, the story didn't start well, there was nothing g ood in the middle, and the ending was like the beginning of a nightmare.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Vladimir Tarasenko (right) scored both Blues goals on Sunday in Game 4

against Colorado but it wasn't enough in a 5-2 loss, ending their season.

The Colorado Avalanche, Presidents' Trophy winners, brushed the Blues aside in a four-game sweep after a 5-2 win at Enterprise Center on Sunday afternoon, thus ending the Blues' season swiftly and abruptly.

The bruised and battered Blues, who were outscored 20-7 in the series, were swept out of a playoff series for the first time since 2012 when the freight train that season, known as the Los Angeles Kings, did it to them, and it happened for the ninth time in 10 tries in franchise history that the Blues were swept when down 3-0 in a series.

It was a bitter ending to another COVID-laced season of a 56-game regular-season schedule, one in which the Blues were tested on a daily basis just to be able to field a regular lineup, and it worked until the very end when they finally lost three players (first, Jake Walman, then Nathan Walker and the final but fatal pill, David Perron). 

Injuries blasted the Blues throughout the season, and it got worse when the postseason started with guys going into it playing with injuries, then losing defensemen Justin Faulk and Robert Bortuzzo to head shots, one in which was punished (Nazem Kadri on Faulk) and one that wasn't (Tyson Jost on Bortuzzo), but the bottom line, the Blues simply got beat by a better, quicker, more skilled, more efficient team that found a gear more effective than theirs in each and every win.

"Oh clearly," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "As you can see, we didn’t even give ourselves a chance. I feel bad for 'Binner' too, played outstanding for us. Clearly the better team won. We couldn’t even get one (win) out, which is just tough. That is very disappointing. There are a lot of things to talk about, but it’s just, it’s very, very disappointing.

"... You know it's tough to think about (injuries) because I do think we have some great depth and guys that did come on, especially on the back end, come in and play very well for us. But injuries are tough, you know, obviously we weren't the best team and it's something we can't control. But yeah, it is what it is."

Vladimir Tarasenko, who scored both Blues goals, his first points of the series and admitted that he has been dealing with a groin issue that kept him out of eight of the final nine regular-season games, was clearly not in the mood to discuss much from the lack of disappointment of losing.

"To tell you honestly, I'm not ready for (these) questions right now," Tarasenko said. "To answer all of those is there's no excuses. I can tell whatever I want to say, and say like we don't fight enough, but it is what it is. 

"This is embarrassing, always hard to lose in the playoffs, especially like this. There is no words, that much you can see."

This is a Blues team two years removed from reaching the mountain top of hockey glory, winning the Stanley Cup and supposedly being set up for the next so many years to challenge or even win it all again.

But this marks the second straight season the Blues are bounced in the opening round.

"In general, I think we, it’s two series now where we've lost," O'Reilly said. "We didn’t really represent the culture that’s here, that we built here. We didn't defend, like we know we have what's been seen in the past. And I feel myself, being the captain, I have to find a way to maintain that because that's what made this team and this organization so tough for so many years, is that culture of playing hard and playing as a team A lot of times you'll be out-skilled, like a matchup, but still with the work ethic and the way you guys can compete as a team, we'd give ourselves a chance and so that I think is missing and, you know, with myself and some others, the personnel is there, a lot of things go into it, but it has t be something I focus on to get that back and lead us to a better way."

And in this situation, Colorado's top players, namely tha Avalanche's top line of Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, combined for 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in the series.

"It really boils down to some certain situations in all the games," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "The games are pretty close, but we let it slip away at some point, and that's what is upsetting -- that we couldn't just stay with it and do a good against that top line (and) do a good job against everybody defensively and then go get that next goal. We just couldn't find a way to do that."

Even after getting their first lead of the series when Tarasenko scored at 4:25 of the second period, their first lead in 204:25, it was just a matter of time before the Avalanche, which advanced to the second round to face either Vegas or Minnesota, would turn on the afterburners and find a way. Whether it would be with their speed, their net front presence or simply their precise skill.

"We were sporadic, it wasn't consistent and clearly you see what happens," O'Reilly said. "They dominated us."

The Blues had an ailing Tarasenko trying to go less than 100 percent in this series, it was evident that forward Schwartz and defenseman Marco Scandella weren't themselves. Each had multiple maintenance days in the past week or so nursing an unknown ailment. Faulk and Bortuzzo didn't see the ice for the home games, and defenseman Vince Dunn (upper body) was never himself and wasn't comfortable moving around. 

"Yeah, but we went through it all year to be honest with you," Berube said. 'In saying that, we've got good enough players. I mean, you can use that as an excuse, but I'm not going to do that. They were better than us for sure in this series. We've got to get better. We've got to improve."

It was evident Tarasenko's groin injury bothered him. His skating just was too inconsistent for success, and now we know the reason why.

"I have some groin problems," Tarasenko said. "Basically, needs just time to heal while playoffs go on I feel more confident, but our season done now so I have a lot of time to figure it out. But our medical staff did a great job. There is credit to them. They help me be on the same page too, help me get ready to play.

"There's a lot of experts. Honestly, nobody knows what my injuries (were). Everybody think it's the same thing for three times surgeries (on his dislocated left shoulder), but this is not true. There is three different things that happen. Now shoulder is 100 percent, have no concerns about it. There's a lot of predictions, a lot of stuff, but you know, the time will show who is right and who is wrong and now time to answer all the questions."

The Blues, who were knocked out in six games by Vancouver inside the Edmonton bubble last season, could never forge an identity, something they clearly had two years ago when they won it all.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues players Ryan O'Reilly (90), Jaden Schwartz (17) and Ville Husso (35)

congratulate goalie Jordan Binnington (50) as the season ended Sunday.

"Yeah I believe at times it was," Berube said. "We were always fighting for that a little bit, trying to find that identity throughout the season. With so many guys in and out of the lineup, the chemistry wasn't quite there. But again, I thought our guys fought hard, we made the playoffs, they played really well down the stretch and then obviously some things happened before the playoffs that are unfortunate. But in saying that, we're better than losing four straight to them." 

And being a cap team losing so quickly in the playoffs, the Blues will likely have a different complexion to their roster in a few months when training camps open up and things get back to normal again.

The unrestricted free agents include Jaden Schwartz, Mike Hoffman and Tyler Bozak. Among the notable restricted free agents include Dunn, Zach Sanford, Ivan Barbashev, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Dakota Joshua and Jacob de la Rose.

"Yeah, it's always tough," O'Reilly said. "You never know what's going to happen. You do also know that we're here trying to win again and they're going to do whatever they can to put the best team out there. And it's nice to have faith in an organization like that. But yeah, it is. Again, we don't know what's going to happen. It’s tough right now, I’ve got to reflect more obviously in this next few days to see and such but yeah, it's part of the game."

Blues backed into corner down 3-0 in series to Avalanche, must come out swinging in Game 4

Only four NHL teams in history have overcome 0-3 series deficit 

to win; Blues have been in this scenario nine times, swept in eight

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- The task seems daunting. In fact, well, it is.

Right now for the Blues, Jim Carrey's famous, "So you're telling me there's a chance," won't sit too well with the fan base. But technically, it's true. They still have a chance, but barely.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Blues defenseman Torey Krug takes a shot in Game 3 of their playoff series

against the Colorado Avalanche on Friday.

Down 3-0 in their first round best-of-7 series against the Colorado Avalanche, the Blues are down to their last life, and teams in this situation don't stand much of a chance.

In fact, only four teams out of 194 opportunities in NHL history has a team overcome a 0-3 series deficit to win. That's a two-percent success ratio, which isn't great. 

They are: 

* 1942 - Toronto Maple Leafs over the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Final.
* 1975 - New York Islanders over the Pittsburgh Penguins in a conference quarterfinal.
* 2010 - Philadelphia Flyers over the Boston Bruins in a conference semifinal.
* 2014 - Los Angeles Kings over the San Jose Sharks in the first round.

And for the Blues and their history, they're 0-for-9 in this scenario. In fact, in eight of those series in which they fell behind 0-3, they've been swept.

Not great odds there.

But it all starts with Game 4 at Enterprise Center on Sunday at 4 p.m. (BSMW, NBCSN, ESPN 101.1-FM) when the Blues will try to keep their season alive and avoid getting knocked out in the first round for the second straight season after winning the Stanley Cup in 2019.

"It's do-or-die time," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "We have to come together and find a way here. It's not going to be easy, but we have to focus on the next game.

"It's time to leave it all out there now and try to fight our way back into this. It's not going to be easy, but it's do-or-die time."

The Blues have been outscored by a whopping 15-5 margin in the series, but four of those Colorado goals have been empty-netters. Even discounting those, the Blues are averaging 1.67 goals per game, while the Avalanche is averaging 2.75 per game, five per game counting the empty-net goals.

"Any player you're counting on to produce and wants to produce and is not producing, I'm sure their confidence is not as high as we want it to be or they'd want it to be," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "On the other side of things, we showed some real good video of the game last night, things that we did real well and opportunities that we had to score goals and just competitive clips how hard we were working in the game. 

"Our guys are where they're at (confidence-wise), they're pretty good, I think. They understand, like, go win a game tomorrow and then it changes everything in my opinion. Momentum's a funny thing. You get a win tomorrow, you know you can get on a little roll."

A good place to start would be to get a lead, something the Blues haven't had in this series. They've been playing catch-up hockey from the start, and even though they were scoreless in the first period of Game 3 Friday, it didn't take long before the Avalanche once again struck first and were playing from ahead.

"I think just getting the first goal, to be honest," defenseman Torey Krug said. "I think just playing with the lead. If we do that, it just gives our team some confidence. Guys get excited playing with the lead. Get our skill guys some touches and all of the sudden, they're feeling good about their game. Now we can just go out and go on a roll. I think that would be the one thing that's our main goal tomorrow."

If anyone can instill some wisdom on what it takes to overcome a 0-3 deficit, it's Berube, who was an assistant coach on Peter Laviolette's Flyers team in 2010 that downed the Bruins.

"He talked about how it kind of had the same kind of feeling where we're right there every game and just were unable to get the win at the end of it," forward Robert Thomas said. "So I think it's just about staying positive, sticking with what we're doing and finding a way to get over that hump."

After losing 5-4 in overtime in Game 1, 3-2 in Game 2 and 4-1 in Game 3, the Flyers turned things around and won Game 4, 5-4 in OT, 4-0 in Game 5, 2-1 in Game 6 and 4-3 in Game 7.

"Similar scenarios I talked about with the team today," Berube said. 'Listen, we played Boston and we were down 0-3 but really played pretty good hockey up to that point, but again, didn't get a bounce here or there and that's what it really boils down to. We turned it around. We won a game, you get some momentum and confidence, you go win another game and now it's a series. 

"Other than the first two periods in Colorado (of Game 1), the games are pretty even or we were better at times in my opinion at some points and they were probably better at some points too. I take two periods out of the series and it's a pretty good series so far. We get a bounce here or there, do a better job maybe defending a play here or there and we're not down 0-3, but you can't worry about that. We've got to move on and get ready for tomorrow's game and we need everybody to compete at a high level and give us our best game tomorrow."

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Forward Robert Thomas (left), said the Blues need to stick with working and

getting over the hump against Andre Burakovsky (right) and the Avalanche. 

What the Blues have to steer clear from is that they're down 3-0 in the series and stay in the here and the now. Because nothing else really matters, but it can be tough not looking at the big picture.

"It is and it isn't," Krug said. "You're right, it does seem ... if you look at the scope of things, it seems like a very high hill to climb. You're at the bottom of the mountain and you've got to get up there, you're facing a good team and you've got to collect four wins in a row, but that being said, you can't accomplish that feat if you don't look at it one game at a time and just focus on tomorrow. We've got to talk about that as a group and understand the circumstances. But if you don't do the job tomorrow, then you don't have the opportunity to win the next game and so on. It definitely is challenging."

* NOTES -- Berube said defensemen Justin Faulk and Robert Bortuzzo, both sustaining upper-body injuries due to head shots in Game 2, are doubtful for Game 4. ... Vince Dunn's status is once again uncertain despite the defenseman skating during an optional on Saturday. Berube said the coaching staff wait for Dunn to tell them he's ready to play and then they make the decision whether to put him in or not. Dunn has missed 14 straight games dating to the regular season. ... Defenseman Jake Walman, removed from the league's COVID-19 protocol list on Friday, has a chance to return to the lineup; he's missed the past six games. ... Forwards David Perron and Nathan Walker remain on the protocol list.

Blues down 3-0 in series to Avalanche mainly due to silence of top scorers

O'Reilly, Schenn, Tarasenko, Schwartz not bringing the offense against 

Colorado; Blues have only five goals in series due to anemic offense 

By LOU KORAC
ST. LOUIS -- Well, no sense in trying to sugar coat this one, so let's cut right to the chase.

The Blues fell behind 3-0 in their best-of-7 first round series against the Colorado Avalanche after another multi-goal loss, this time, 5-1 on home ice in front of 9,000 fans at Enterprise 

Center on Friday for a variety of reasons.

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Brayden Schenn (10) has one goal in three games against the Colorado

Avalanche, a series the Avs lead 3-0.

Sure, the Avalanche, this season's Presidents' Trophy winners, got some fortuitous bounces, and an egregious mistake from goalie Jordan Binnington that gift-wrapped the first goal, but good teams find ways to create breaks, and the Avalanche certainly have been doing that and have been opportunistic in doing so.

But again, lets cut to the chase here and dissect why the Blues, who are on the verge of elimination with Game 4 looming at home Sunday at 4 p.m., are in the predicament they're in.

Is this a wounded animal regarding injuries, something they've dealt with all season? Yes. Are they simply not as good as the speedy and talented Avalanche? Well, the numbers speak for themselves. Did goalie Jordan Binnington have his first subpar game of this series after two sound performances, especially in Game 1, in Denver? There's an argument for that, but plain and simple: the Blues have scored five goals in this series, three of them at even strength, one on the power play and one shorthanded. 

When looking at Colorado's top scorers in this series, the names MacKinnon, Landeskog and Rantanen are at the top of the list with 18 points (six goals, 12 assists) and a plus-13.

Tyler Bozak is the Blues' leading scorer in this series with one goal (shorthanded on Friday) and one assist.

That's it? That's your team's top scorer?

And no disrespect to Bozak, but it's one of your oldest players playing mostly a third-line role.
The rest of the scoring has come from Jordan Kyrou, who was a third-line winger in Game 1, Sammy Blais, a fourth-line winger, Brayden Schenn (a power-play goal) and Mike Hoffman, also playing a third-line role.

Where are the top guns? Where is Ryan O'Reilly, who proclaimed before the series started that, "We're going to have some fun and we're going to beat them." Where is Vladimir Tarasenko? Where is Jaden Schwartz? And truthfully, where is Schenn with the offense? 
These are the Blues' highest-paid forwards, who collectively counted for $26.85 million against the cap this past season and made $23.5 million in salaries. 

Here are their combined numbers in this series thus far: one goal, one assist, 21 shots and a minus-24.

Ouch! 

Those are horrific numbers even in a small sample size. 

And it all came to a bit of a boil after the loss Friday.

"I liked the game in general. I thought we competed really hard," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "I thought we had a ton of looks and offensive zone time. Got to score more."

Got to score more. If that isn't an understatement.

And if you want to add in the Blues' top-paid defensemen with Justin Faulk, Torey Krug and Colton Parayko, that's another $18.5 million in cap hits and $16.35 million in salaries that three assists and a minus-9 in this series.

Let's begin with O'Reilly, who makes it hard to tear down based in his superior work ethic on both sides of the puck, but let's face it, a $7.5 million player is expected to produce both offensively and defensive, and sure, he's spent much of this series chasing Nathan MacKinnon's tail around, but he has an assist (on Bozak's shorthanded tally Friday) with seven shots on goal and a minus-6 in this series.

The captain is never at a loss for words when it comes to critiquing his game, but it's justifiable in this case. They're simply not there after a terrific regular-season with 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) and a team-high plus-26.

"I'm just speaking for myself, gosh I know I can be a lot better," O'Reilly said. "I have to find a way to put the puck in the net. I had plenty of opportunities tonight, still didn't make enough happen. I wish I had the answer and could adjust it, but it's over now and we've got to get ready for the next game. Got to make a difference. It's on us, the guys seeing the big ice, the big minutes. We have to find a way to produce and spark the rest of the group. There's nothing I can do right now. I've got to prepare for the next game and give it everything we have."

Schenn is another one that works his tail off, is physical, tries to set the tone for his teammates and is another 200-foot skater willing to play both sides of the puck. But coming off a season in which he made $8 million and is a $6.5 million cap hit in the first year of an eight-year, $52 million contract, he has a power-play goal on four shots and is a minus-6 in this series.

Tarasenko, along with O'Reilly as the highest-paid forwards at $7.5 million cap hit and $5.5 million in salary, simply doesn't look like himself, whether it's the shoulder surgeries that have plagued him for the past two years, or the recent lower-body injury that's nagging him throughout this series, the Blues' goal leader for five straight seasons prior to getting hurt last year rarely is noticeable on the ice these days. He is without a point with just three shots in three games and a team-worst minus-7.

And Jaden Schwartz, who has been defended in this space since the Blues drafted him in with the 14th pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, also has no points on seven shots and is a minus-5 in the series. His work ethic has always been a plus in these spaces and doesn't go unnoticed, but even his work on both sides of the puck hasn't been noticed. Schwartz could be dealing with some sort of nagging injury being a maintenance day Friday and taking just a quick morning skate Wednesday in Denver, but the results speak for themselves.

"The bottom line is, our top guys are guys that we rely on, they've got to produce," Berube said. "We've got to find a way to score more goals."

Faulk was injured badly after taking a vicious blindside hit from Colorado's Nazem Kadri, who was suspended eight games Friday by the Department of Player Safety, in the third period of Game 2, so he gets a bit of a free pass even though he no points and is a minus-1 in two games with five shots. Krug does have two assists but is a minus-4 on eight shots in three games, and Parayko has one assist and is a minus-4 in three games with seven shots.

Boy, do the Blues miss David Perron and his 58 points (19 goals, 39 assists) from the regular season, but poor Perron is stuck in COVID-19 protocol and sits idly and helpless until he's able to come off. By the time he can, it may be too late. That's why it was imperative that the Blues' top scorers make a difference in this series.

"I think they are creating," Berube said. "There's some good looks out there. It's not going in right now. If I had an answer of why, I would have fixed it already."

(St. Louis Blues/Scott Rovak)

Colton Parayko (55) and the Blues have been bottled up by Brandon Saad

(20) and the Colorado Avalanche in their first-round playoff series.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, but something that had to be addressed.

And even though they're normally getting bottom nine minutes but playing on the first- and second-unit power-plays, respectively, Mike Hoffman and Kyrou each have a goal in this series when they combined for 31 (Hoffman, 17; Kyrou, 14) in the regular season and lead the Blues in shots on goal this series (Hoffman, 10; Kyrou, nine). Robert Thomas has two assists and no goals.

"The bottom line is, our top guys are guys that we rely on, they've got to produce," Berube said. "We've got to find a way to score more goals."

Better find it fast, or Sunday will be the knockout punch for the Avalanche.

(5-21-21) Avalanche-Blues Game 3 Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. -- What happens for the Blues tonight in Game 3 of their first round playoff series against the Colorado Avalanche is anybody's guess.

Of course, that's the case when it comes to the final scoreline, but as far as a lineup is concerned, well, those answers will be known when the team takes the ice prior to puck drop in the best-of-7 series that the Avalanche leads 2-0 at 8:30 p.m. (BSMW, USA Network, ESPN 101.1-FM).

The biggest question marks come on defense, as Justin Faulk and Robert Bortuzzo each will miss the game after sustaining upper-body injuries in the 6-3 loss in Game 2.

Bortuzzo was first to leave midway through the game when he took an elbow from Tyson Jost, who did not receive supplementary discipline for his actions, and Faulk departed 6:30 into the third period when he was the recipient of an illegal check to the head from Nazem Kadri, who is expected to receive a suspension from the Department of Player Safety, which offered the Avalanche center a in-person hearing via Zoom Friday afternoon.

"He's feeling OK, but I got no comment on the hit or whatever the league does," Blues coach Craig Berube said of Faulk. "But Faulker, he's doing OK."

Berube said Faulk could potentially return at some point in this series, as well as Bortuzzo too. 

"I think there's a potential return too. It's hard for me to determine on those types of things," Berube said. "It changes, might change in two days for the worse, maybe it's better, who knows."

So the Blues will have some changes along their blue line, and could include the NHL playoff debut for Steven Santini and Mitch Reinke. Each skated on Friday morning and could jump into the lineup, depending on the health of Vince Dunn (upper body injury), who Berube said is a game time decision after missing the past 14 games.

"Santini, the games he's played has been steady and predictable," Berube said. "He looks like he's got a good head on his shoulders. I haven't seen him a lot, but what I have seen of him when he played those games, pretty intelligent player.

"(Reinke's) a puck mover. He moves the puck well, sees the ice well. He's a smart player. That's probably his best qualities."

If either play, it will be a trial by fire, but one forward Sammy Blais said each needs to enjoy.

"Just enjoy. It's playoff hockey, it's the best time of the year," Blais said. "If the guy plays his first game, just have fun out there and not be too stressed and just play your game. Whoever's in the lineup's going to do a good job for us." 

But Dunn's potential return would boost things for the Blues significantly.

"Obviously he's a very good player," defenseman Colton Parayko said. "He's been around for a long time. Just having his presence in the locker room and on the ice, it makes a difference. Whatever lineup we're able to go with, we're going to focus on that and that's all we can do. Kind of what's happened, happened and we've got to focus on trying to win a hockey game tonight."

Regardless of who's in and not in, the Blues are focused on one task

"We don't know the full lineup yet, but we've just got to focus on tonight and we've just got to be there for the game and that's all we can do is put together the best lineup and put together our best game," Parayko said. "Our focus now is onto Game 3, just putting together best game, our best foot forward and trying to get into this series here. That's our goal right now, whoever we have in the lineup, we're going to step up and give ourselves a chance to win."

The Blues should have some emotion, at least at the outset, all things considered after the Avalanche knocked out 1/3 of the Blues' blue line. But the coaching staff had the conversation with the team about staying focused on the game at hand.

"Yeah, at the end of the game (Wednesday). It is what it is," Berube said. 'Things happen in games and it's upsetting at times. We've got to focus on playing and the league will do what they have to do to take care of that stuff."

"I think the first few games were physical, so I don't think things will change there," Blais said. "Our type of game is to be physical and be hard on them. It's the playoffs and they hurt a couple of our players. We just take that as motivation and we're going to try to be ready for a big game tonight."

Defenseman Marco Scandella took another maintenance day but will play, as will forward Jaden Schwartz, who also took a maintenance day after taking a brief skate prior to Game 2 Wednesday but left early.

- - -

The Blues obviously need to get off to a better start than in Games 1 and 2, where the Avalanche out shot them by a combined 37-11 and outscored 3-0.

"I think that the first periods, we've let Colorado really dictate how the game was going to be played," Berube said. "We give up too many shots in the first period the first two games and really, gave them a lot of momentum in my opinion. I think that we battled back in the second and the thirds in both games and probably were the better team for the most part in those periods, but if you give up the first goal or first two goals and three. We've got to do a better job there in the first period and I think we'll be in better shape."

"Our start of the game's got to be important," Blais said. "I think the first two games, our first periods were not good. I think having a good start tonight will be the biggest thing.

"Just try to get to our game as quick as we can, get on the forecheck right away and put pressure on their d-men. Be on top of them and just try to play in their zone as much as we can."

One area that can alleviate that, putting the clamps on the top line of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog. That trio has combined for 16 points (six goals, eight assists) in the first two games, including MacKinnon, who has five goals and two assists.

"A good series so far by (MacKinnon) and it's on us to I think just starting from their d-zone," Parayko said. "We just got to make sure we're a lot tighter, we count numbers and just stay on top of them and not allow them to get speed. Just know where he is on the ice at all times, know where that whole line is. They all have good players on that line. Just shoulder checking and making sure where everyone is and just working as a five-man unit out there."

- - -

The Blues finished 5-0-1 down the stretch on home ice, and there's no better time than now to continue that trend of good play.

Their play at Enterprise Center as a whole hasn't been good enough (12-11-5 during the regular season), but it was much better lately (8-2-1), including two wins against the Avalanche.

"Our home ice really improved down the stretch, I thought at the end there, did a good job at home," Berube said. "Tonight, we've got to go win a game, we know that. We just go out and play our game for 60 minutes."

And the Blues will be able to play in front of 9,000 fans for the first time, since the boost in attendance from 4,100-plus.

"It's nice to obviously come back home," Parayko said. "We're looking forward to it having a good fanbase here tonight. Looking forward to getting to play in front of them. We love playing in front of them obviously. It's going to be an exciting atmosphere, looking forward to that and just protecting home ice. It's a good opportunity for us to get one in the series, to get back into it and hopefully take care of both of these games at home, but first thing's first is tonight."

- - -

The Avalanche's projected lineup:

Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen

Andre Burakovsky-Tyson Jost-Valeri Nichushkin

Brandon Saad-Alex Newhook-Joonas Donskoi

Carl Soderberg-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-J.T. Compher

Devon Toews-Cale Makar

Ryan Graves-Samuel Girard

Patrik Nemeth-Conor Timmins

Philipp Grubauer will start in goal; Jonas Johansson will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Bowen Byram, Devan Dubnyk, Dennis Gilbert, Jacob MacDonald, Liam O’Brien, Jayson Megna, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood. Matt Calvert (upper body) and Logan O’Connor (lower body) are out. Nazem Kadri will be suspended.

- - -

The Blues' projected lineup:

Ivan Barbashev-Ryan O'Reilly-Jordan Kyrou

Jaden Schwartz-Brayden Schenn-Vladimir Tarasenko

Mike Hoffman-Tyler Bozak-Robert Thomas 

Kyle Clifford-Zach Sanford-Sammy Blais

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Torey Krug-Steven Santini

Niko Mikkola-Mitch Reinke

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Klim Kostin, Dakota Joshua, Mackenzie MacEachern, Jacob de la Rose, Austin Poganski, Dakota Joshua, Joel Hofer, Jon Gillies and Tyler Tucker. Justin Faulk (upper body) and Robert Bortuzzo (upper body) are out. Vince Dunn (upper body) will be a game time decision. David Perron, Jake Walman and Nathan Walker remain in COVID-19 protocol.

Blues couldn't overcome COVID errors, slow start, injuries to defensemen in Game 2 loss to Avalanche

Day starts with Binnington, Tarasenko in limbo due to errors in lab testing; 

spot Avalanche three goals; lose Faulk, Bortuzzo to hits to head in 6-3 defeat

By LOU KORAC
DENVER -- The Blues finally started to get some things right in their series against the Colorado Avalanche in Game 2 of their first round series Wednesday night.

Problem is, it took way too long to get those things going.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Brayden Schenn (10) and the Blues couldn't quite complete the comeback

in Game 2 against the Avalanche, falling 6-3 on Wednesday.

It's not wise to spot the Presidents' Trophy winners a three-goal lead before turning it back around, but that's what the Blues did.

They did turn it back around and made a game of it, only to see it slip back the other way in a 6-3 loss at Ball Arena to fall behind 0-2 in the best-of-7 series.

It was a game of what ifs regarding the Blues, if they did this or did that right from the drop of the puck, and then there's Colorado, which could be looking at two players (Nazem Kadri and Tyson Jost) each getting a call from the NHL's Department of Player Safety for hits to the head of Blues defensemen Justin Faulk and Robert Bortuzzo (more on that later).

But first, it started during the day for the Blues, who were caught in a whirlwind of COVID testing when goalie Jordan Binnington and forward Vladimir Tarasenko each received positive tests that eventually would later be determined by the league that came back as lab errors and the players were allowed to play in Game 2. But they weren't allowed to participate in the morning skate, which players are creatures of habit of, and could have thrown their routines off.

So they had to first and foremost deal with that.

"Maybe at the beginning, but once you get the results back, we got them back after morning skate, you're probably messing up more so the guys that didn't skate with Binnington and Tarasenko," said Blues forward Brayden Schenn. "One of them's vaccinated and you just hope that it's not going to go into a positive and thankful it was a mixup on testing and seemed to happen around the league lots."

"This whole season, there's so many unexpected things, that's what happens," Blues captain Ryan O'Reilly said. "It's stuff like this has happened before and we just have to not be affected by it and keep moving, so it is what it is, it's unfortunate, but it is what it is."

As for the game, the Blues, who said they would be better, didn't play the part, at least in the beginning.

It started with a Gabriel Landeskog crunching hit on O'Reilly behind the Blues' goal, with the puck eventually winding up at the left point, and Ryan Graves' shot was deflected in front by Joonas Donskoi, one of two redirections by the former San Jose Shark, and was a theme for Colorado on its first three goals, and a 1-0 lead just 35 seconds into the game.

The Blues were playing much like they did in a 4-1 loss in Game 1, throwing pucks back to the Avs, not generating much of a forecheck/physical presence early on, and the shots reflected it: 19-6.

And a 1-0 deficit turned into 2-0 when Robert Thomas inexplicably hoisted a puck into the stands from the right wall in the d-zone for a delay of game penalty that Nathan MacKinnon turned into a power-play goal at 18:05 and a 2-0 lead, a shot from the left circle through Bortuzzo and with Landeskog camping out in front of a helpless Binnington.

"The one power play goal, MacKinnon's, we got to get on him quicker," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We've got to hammer the edge there and not let him get that shot so quickly. I get there's traffic, there's going to be traffic. We've got to fight through it, and we've got to block shots or box people out of there, but in part, you're not going to box people out if they have position on it, so we need to step in front of it, block the shot."

As for the better start?

"Just a mindset more than anything," Berube said. "I think we've got to be more ... I won't say patient, but we've got to understand that we have to play a certain way against this team and we can't wait until the second period to do it. Pucks got to go in deep, they got to go 200 feet, we've got to be a good forecheck team and then we've got to shoot pucks. I thought we passed up shots again in the first period, and then we allow them to come out of their zone way too easy and they get these rush attacks against us and they get opportunities off of it. It's just a matter of forechecking smarter and harder."

A second Donskoi goal came as a result of another power play by the Avalanche when Ivan Barbashev was called for hooking MacKinnon, moments after he left a puck off for Cale Makar and picked Barbashev off the play, that the Blues were irate it wasn't called (it should have been). But the goal came when MacKinnon, at the top of the point, wired one towards the net and Donskoi, again camped out in front of Binnington, got his body on it and it deflected into the net at 3:15 of the second period for a 3-0 lead.

"They were doing a good job of moving screens," Schenn said. "We've got to do a better job of grabbing a man, boxing out. Binner's making a lot of saves and shooting lots from the top. We've got to try and make it easier on him in front.

"We just got to be more ready. I think we need to go out there and score the first goal and not get from behind. Obviously they're a good team. They play hard, they skate hard, they don't give up much. I think the second half of that game of the two periods, we started to grab some momentum and try to figure out in how to play them. Obviously they're a great team and you've got to keep on moving your legs, moving your feet and even though we didn't get the win tonight, we did some good things."

The Blues lost their first player of the night (Bortuzzo) when he took an elbow from Jost with 10:55 remaining in the second. No call was made.

"It's a greasy elbow there by Jostie," Schenn said. "I understand he's going into the battle, but you've got to know how to control your elbows and not get it up into the d-man's face. One guy's 6-foot-4, one guy's 6-feet. It's a pretty gross elbow and it's tough to lose a guy like Bobbo."

So for half the game, the Blues were down a defenseman, but got back into the game when they started forechecking better and forced a turnover when Sammy Blais scored at 16:17 of the second to make it 3-1.

Then the Blues lost Faulk to a cheap shot from Kadri, known for his goonery in the past, when he came through the slot and picked off Faulk's head at 6:30 of the third. Officials immediately called for a five-minute major and video confirmed it to be a match penalty for an illegal check to the head.

"And then a guy like Kadri, guy can't control himself," Schenn said. "In the playoffs, he's a repeat offender, bad hits, greasy hits and he got a guy in a vulnerable position and picks nothing but the head. Last time we seen one of those hits, it was Oskar Sundqvist getting hit by (Tom) Wilson and that was years ago in Blues hockey (during the preseason). Hopefully the league's taking care of it and we need to now focus on Games 3 and 4 and the league will take care of those guys' hits."

O'Reilly concurred.

"That's a very dangerous hit," he said. "It's got to be a suspension, it's dangerous. He's a repeat offender. That's completely uncalled for and it's awful to see."

So the Blues finished the game, the final 13:30 with four defensemen.

"I don't have an update and you're down to four D," Berube said on the d-men's status. "That's in a playoff game. That's difficult, but I thought guys did a good job."

Schenn did get one during the major penalty to cut the score to 3-2, potting a rebound of Tyler Bozak's shot off the pads looking for a rebound play at 10:07, but the Blues could have conceivably gotten more.

"Yeah, we had some zone time, some possession," Schenn said. "They did a good job of fronting pucks with Graves and (Patrik) Nemeth and whoever was on the back end there. They blocked a lot of shots. (Philipp) Grubauer made a few saves. I think we had some pretty good looks and obviously it would have been nice to get a couple, but we kind of hung around and made a game of it."

They did by doing the things that make their game successful.

"We just started to forecheck and compete," Berube said. "I thought we competed, but the forecheck and controlling play in the offensive zone, I thought we did a good job in the second and third period of it and fought our way back into the game."

MacKinnon's second of the game was a killer goal, and it came from distance, near the blue line, straightaway, with traffic so Binnington again couldn't see the puck coming in, at 15:25 to make it 4-2.

"I thought that we were the better team (the second half of the game)," Berube said. "They scored two even-strength goals tonight. We've got to kill those power plays. Those are defendable and the fourth goal is, too. That's a shot from the blue line, a wrist shot. We've got to block that, we've got to do a better job there."

Mike Hoffman made it 4-3 just 15 seconds later on a good rush up the ice and shot from the left circle, but with Binnington pulled, Brandon Saad and MacKinnon scored empty-net goals at 17:51 and 19:48 to ice this one.

"Again, the goalie's out, we have an opportunity," Berube said. "We've got to do a better job with the goalie out in that situation, made it way too easy for them to get  an empty-net goal, way too easy. That play needs to be challenged hard and killed. That would give ourselves a chance to tie the game up."

Unlike Game 1, in which the Blues were blitzed and outshot 50-23, they actually outshot Colorado 29-16 the final two periods, including 15-7 in the third and finished even (35-35) for the game. 

But now faced with an 0-2 series deficit, the Blues have to find a way at home, and with the uncertainty of two defensemen, it could propel Vince Dunn back into the lineup, who Berube called a "maybe" but Jake Walman, Berube said, will not be available.

(St. Louis Blues photo)

Sammy Blais (middle) got the Blues on the board Wednesday in a 6-3

loss against the Colorado Avalanche.

"We've got to go home and win a game," Berube said. "That's the way we're looking at it."
"At the end of the day, you lost the hockey game," Schenn said. "Momentum's on their side. That's not breaking news by any means, but I think we did some good things. We forechecked better, we played with the puck better, we made some plays and you have to do that against a team like that. If you're not going to make any plays and you're going to flip pucks out and chip the puck and not support each other, you're going to be playing a lot of defense and I think we did that through the first four periods of the series and hopefully we can gather what we did in the last two periods of that game and try to keep building our game.

"We've been dealing with injuries all year. Next man up mentality. It's the playoffs. Anything can happen. We feel the last two periods, we kind of started to build our game a little bit and we like playing in front of our fans and home ice in the playoffs and we can't wait to get back to Enterprise and try to make this a series."

(5-19-21) Blues-Avalanche Game 2 Gameday Lineup

By LOU KORAC
DENVER -- It wasn't exactly the ideal situation for the Blues on Wednesday.

UPDATE -- it got better, though.

Not only were they faced with having to find a way to pick themselves up after a 4-1 loss in Game 1 on Monday, but there could be more revealing developments regarding COVID-19 testing.

Already without David Perron, Jake Walman and Nathan Walker, who are in the league's COVID-19 protocol, goalie Jordan Binnington, forwards Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz along with defenseman Marco Scandella each missed the morning skate. 

This came on the heels of the Blues releasing a statement by general manager Doug Armstrong saying, "We have discovered discrepancies in Covid test results relating to multiple players. We have been in touch with and are working with the league to address these discrepancies with additional testing and expect to have further information later this afternoon. The League will provide a further update when we have more information.  Head Coach Craig Berube and our players will not be available to the media until after tonight’s game."

Initially, the statement could have been meant to refer to the players already in protocol and their test results could have been compromised and perhaps available to play, but with the aforementioned players missing the morning skate, the concern elevated itself to potentially more players being affected.

As of 1 p.m. (MT), those players are not considered out of the lineup until the league addresses this issue and says they are out.

* UPDATE -- At 3:16 p.m. (CT), the NHL released the following statement: 

"This morning, we became aware of certain test results involving multiple Players on two Clubs (the St. Louis Blues and the Vegas Golden Knights) that had indicated positive results for the COVID-19 virus. Because those reported results emanated from the same laboratory, and due to other peculiarities and similarities as among the test results themselves, an investigation was initiated into the possibility that the initial test results reported may have been in error. All affected Players were immediately isolated and further testing was done involving collected samples. Those tests have returned uniformly negative results, therefore confirming that the initial reported test results were in error. As a result, all affected Players will be eligible to play in their team’s next game."

So unless it was injury-related as to why they missed the morning skate today, Binnington, Tarasenko, Schwartz and Scandella are good to go for tonight.

The Blues had their allotment of players on the ice, including taxi squad members, and ran the following power-play units:

Torey Krug, Ryan O'Reilly, Brayden Schenn, Mike Hoffman and Tyler Bozak on one unit, and Justin Faulk, Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Ivan Barbashev and Zach Sanford on another. 

Without knowing until the pregame warmup, here is the best guess-timate as to what the Blues will put out for a lineup:

The Blues' projected lineup:

Jaden Schwartz-Ryan O’Reilly-Brayden Schenn

Ivan Barbashev-Tyler Bozak-Vladimir Tarasenko

Mike Hoffman-Robert Thomas-Jordan Kyrou

Kyle Clifford-Zach Sanford-Sammy Blais

Torey Krug-Justin Faulk

Marco Scandella-Colton Parayko

Vince Dunn-Robert Bortuzzo

Jordan Binnington will start in goal; Ville Husso will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Niko Mikkola, Klim Kostin, Dakota Joshua, Mackenzie MacEachern, Jacob de la Rose, Steven Santini, Mitch Reinke, Austin Poganski, Dakota Joshua, Joel Hofer and Jon Gillies. David Perron, Jake Walman and Nathan Walker are in COVID-19 protocol.

* Dunn could return after missing the past 12 games with an upper-body injury, and Kostin could make his NHL postseason debut. He was taking rushes with Clifford and Sanford on the fourth line, with Blais moving up in Schwartz's spot while he was missing this afternoon.

- - -

The Avalanche's projected lineup:

Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon-Mikko Rantanen

Brandon Saad-Nazem Kadri-Andre Burakovsky

Valeri Nichushkin-Tyson Jost-Joonas Donskoi

Alex Newhook-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-J.T. Compher

Devon Toews-Cale Makar

Ryan Graves-Samuel Girard

Patrik Nemeth-Conor Timmins

Philipp Grubauer will start in goal; Jonas Johansson will be the backup. Healthy scratches include Devan Dubnyk, Jacob MacDonald, Liam O’Brien, Jayson Megna, Dan Renouf, Kiefer Sherwood and Carl Soderberg. Bowen Byram (upper body), Matt Calvert (upper body) and Logan O’Connor (lower body) are out.

(5-19-21) BLUES NOTEBOOK

Blues have major improvements to make in series, goaltending not one of

them; Kyrou's first postseason goal; Dunn skates; Perron remains in protocol

By LOU KORAC
DENVER -- Down 1-0 in their series against the Colorado Avalanche following a 4-1 loss in Game 1, the takeaway is the Blues have their work cut out for them.

That's an understatement.

Oh, and Jordan Binnington will give the Blues a chance if he continues to play like he did Monday when he made 46 saves and kept it a 1-1 game heading into the third period.

"Yeah, he played great," Blues defenseman Justin Faulk said. "He did exactly or more than what we could have asked him to do. He played pretty damn well and made a bunch of huge saves and kept us in it. Whenever you have that, you know you have an opportunity every night to win a game. And if Binner can keep doing it, not trying to say if he can keep doing it, but with Binner playing that way, if he's going to continue to play that way, there's no reason that the boys can't rally behind that and pick up our game and try to get going too."

But the Blues, bombarded with all the statistics, including shots differential (50-23) and possession time, certainly have to start talking the talk if they are to make this a series, because everything they were talking about not allowing the Avalanche to do to fuel its success, the Blues led the feeding frenzy.

"We didn't do anything with the hockey puck," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "First of all, that's where it all starts, coming out of our own end with the puck. We didn't make plays, we just punted pucks out of our own zone. They basically took our game plan of what we wanted to do and made it a three-quarter ice game and now we're back in our end. We've got to do a batter job making plays coming out of our end and advancing it 200 feet. Our forecheck wasn't tight enough. We allowed numbers up the ice, odd-man rushes against us. We didn't do a good enough job on their D, making them stop, controlling the puck in the offensive zone. Our forecheck's got to be better. Those two things really stand out for me more than anything. That fuels their game. They're a good team off the rush, they're a good transition team. We've got to take that away."

Take away time and space, make the Avs stop and start with pucks in the d-zone, don't allow the transition to get going, better play in the neutral zone. All that, huh? 

Oh, and slow down that train of Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog while you're at it? Good luck, because that trio got off to a rip-roaring start in the series opener with three goals, four assists and a plus-8 rating.

"It is as expected. Their top line carries a lot of their offense and a lot of the weight for their team," Faulk said. "At the same time, I think we could have done a better job on their other three lines as well. With that, if you can kind of control the play a little bit more throughout their lineup, it'll slow their top line down just as a whole because the way they have to change, the way they get momentum and the way they kind of generate, if we can kind of leave it to just not necessarily saying it's going to happen, but that top line, it'll help us a lot and allow us to generate more as well.

"Any time you allow them to kind of gain the offensive zone with possession over the blue line, it opens up a lot more options. They can hit the third guy, they can hit the fourth guy. If we don't have numbers on the way back or if any of their guys beats some of us up the ice, it really gives them a lot of options, so if you can kind of force a dump-in or force a play at the blue line, it either results in an offsides or a dump-in and slows their rush chances. They play very well off the rush and they get a lot of chances that way so if we can kind of as D have better gaps and kind of be in their face a little bit more to create those turnovers, it'll help us tremendously."

Berube said, "I'm not sure it's really one thing that gets us off our game defending them. We kept them off the scoresheet 5-on-5 until the first shift of the third period, but in general, we have to be tighter on them. We've got to take away their rush game. They hit the middle of the ice way too much, that line included. Now it's tough. They're coming at us with speed, their coming at our D with speed and they've got numbers. That starts all in the offensive zone and on the forecheck. It's about reloading harder, it's about better positioning, better sticks. All those little things, D being tighter, banging walls. We weren't connected with five-man units. Yes, the first period, we had some good zone time and some good play in the first play for about 10 minutes."

The Blues say they'll be better in Game 2, and they better be, but what do they need to do to accomplish that?

"Just cleaner execution with the puck, without the puck," Faulk said. "I think it all needs to blend in together. If we execute with the puck, especially coming out of our own end and through the neutral zone, that sets up our forecheck and then when you get that going, that allows us to play offense and even if your forecheck is going the right way and they break the puck out, the D generally are up tighter, they have better gaps and it allows us to shut them down and create turnovers on our end and then start the cycle all over again. It's just better execution, kind of all over the ice, but definitely with the puck, so we can put ourselves in a better position."

One thing the defensemen need to realize is not to just hand the puck back over to a team that feeds off fear.

"A big part of it, yeah," Berube said. 'We've got to make plays and want the puck and advance it 200 feet and put pucks into areas in the offensive zone where we can get them back and forecheck. It wasn't there for 60 minutes. I thought our second period, we were coming, we were pretty good in that period. I thought that was a pretty good period for us, but the third period, we get scored on right away the first shift and really killed our momentum, I thought, and we're kind of on our heels that period. We didn't really battle back in that period. We didn't get enough good looks or opportunities."

* Kyrou's first of many -- Jordan Kyrou's first NHL postseason goal was picture-perfect for the Blues at the time, and tied the game 1-1 late in the second when he, Ivan Barbashev and Robert Thomas executed a perfect odd-man rush that culminated with Kyrou's one-timer from the slot off Barbashev's backhand feed.

"Obviously it was a very exciting goal for me," Kyrou said. "It was my first playoff goal so I was a little more excited than usual, so I was excited to get that."

It was too bad the Blues didn't feed off the gain in momentum at the time, because they sucked the life out of the 7,700-plus fans in the building and had to have the Avalanche thinking in their heads that they can't beat Binnington with the night he was having.

But that all went out the window when MacKinnon scored 30 seconds into the third period.

"It was definitely good to get that one and tie the game up," Kyrou said. "Colorado's a good team, so we've got to try and capitalize on the chances that we get. It was a good second (period) there and we kind of let off in the third a little bit there."

Berube made a switch in the second period, flipping Barbashev and Mike Hoffman, putting Barbashev with Thomas and Kyrou and moving Hoffman to a line with Tyler Bozak and Vladimir Tarasenko.

"I thought that Vladi and Barby and Bozak, in the first period, Vladi hit the post; they had some good shifts," Berube said. "That wasn't the reason I switched that line, I didn't find that 18, 25 and 68 were getting anything going so I wanted to put a more physical player (Barbashev) on that line and they had some good shifts together. I thought Hoffman was fine with Bozak and Tarasenko in the game too."

* Player updates/evaluations -- Blues forward David Perron remained on the NHL's COVID-19 protocol list on Tuesday, along with defenseman Jake Walman, and Berube had no further update on either.

Defenseman Vince Dunn, who's missed 12 straight games with an upper-body injury, practiced during Tuesday's optional.

"He's feeling OK," Berube said. "He'll skate today and we'll get a better view of him after practice to see if he's available tomorrow."

As for Tarasenko, he had a glorious chance early to put the Blues ahead but hit the right post instead on a close-in range chance and was engaged early but seemed to fade as the game progressed.

"Early on he was good," Berube said. "He was skating and attacking. He didn't do it for 60 minutes. He's got to skate. It's all skating for him and getting involved and getting in there and being aggressive and I thought early on, he was good. He had a couple real good looks. He had a partial breakaway, hit the post. He did some good things, but overall, it's about skating for him and getting in there and getting inside the dots and getting around the net."

Niko Mikkola played in his first NHL playoff game and played 11:31, was a plus-1 with a hit and a blocked shot.

"He was fine," Berube said. "I didn't have an issue with Mikkola. He was aggressive, he's physical, he did a good job."